N-Class DIMM usable in L3000?

[Ralph Grothe]

Hello,

do you know if I can reuse RAM from an N-Class in an L3000 server?

Rgds

Ralph

[Mike Shilladay]

Hi Ralph,

I believe that they are. We have used N-Class memory in A500's and they have worked perfectly.

Mike.

[Ralph Grothe]

Hi Mike,

that sounds promising.

Although I assume that the N-class which I might have at my disposal for scrapping would be a better iron to totally replace the current L-class which needs to be upgraded RAM-wise,
I on the other hand fear that the porting of OS and app SW would be more involved than simply juggling with the DIMMs until a suitable combination is found.

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

You may want to confirm this with Hardware support or http://partsurfer.hp.com

Not everything that works is necessarily good for the machine. You may have service contract issues. I doubt that any of this will be a problem.

SEP

[Pete Randall]

I just tried PartSurfer and was unable to come up with a conclusive answer. My assessment on this is that the L class and N class were pretty much identical, with the N simply having more slots available for expansion. I would think the memory would be compatible in either and I think, if you check the CPUs, you'll probably find they're the same, so you won't be losing any horsepower moving your apps to the L class.


Pete

[Pete Randall]

Sorry - I should have said "wouldn't lose any horsepower by leaving your apps on the L-class".

Both the L and the N came with either PA8500 or PA8600 chips rated at 360, 440 or 550 MHz. The difference being that the N could have up to 8 of them, while the L could only have 4.


Pete

[Ralph Grothe]

Hi SEP,

the provided URL for partserver is really useful.

I a locker in our data center I discovered several memory carriers of A3639 filled with 512MB DIMMs of A4923.

When I entered consecutively both prod Nos. into partserver's search form it unfortunately only came up with N-class as devices that used these parts.
So does this mean that I won't be able to use my stock memory carriers in an L3000?

If I ignored partsurfer's result however,
and installed such a carrier on the vacant 2nd slot anyway (provided the sockets matched),
would that cause damage or simply wouldn't work at worst?
I mean just in the vein of doing the dumb trial and error to see if it works.

[Pete Randall]

Ralph,

If the memory is incompatible, the machine simply won't boot. You'll get some kind of error code during the self-tests and it will stop there.


Pete

[Ralph Grothe]

Thank you Pete.
This was also my notion.

[Torsten.]

I'm not sure, but the memory carriers might be slightly different. You risk to damage pins and the system board this way when you try to install the carrier for the L-class into the N-class or vice versa. Caution!

For the DIMMs it is worth to try if they work, but I guess it will work.
Please consider always the situation supported/unsupported config vs. contracted systems.

[Ralph Grothe]

Hi Torsten,

as said, I won't use force if the male and female ends of socket don't seem to match.
I think (hope) this will be conspicuous.

The box that requires the memory extension has long expired any support contracts.
Of course I will be in trouble anyway when I screw up the hardware with this tinkering.
At least I have as last resort a vacant N-Class to "failover".
But this would require much more work,
viz. connections, OS, SW etc.

[Torsten.]

It might be risky to insert the N-class carrier into the L-class as mentioned. Carefully compare the connectors and watch for closed holes!
I guess it won't fit or work.

A broken or bent pin on the systemboard is a real showstopper.

IMHO there is something to prevent this kind of exchange components between L- and N-class by design because of different prices in the past ...

BTW, it will give you more performance to use the N-class anyway, for example you can use 4 carries instead of only 2 - even with the same amount of memory (of course with a reasonable amount of dimms).

[Andrew Rutter]

ralph,

i dont think you'll have a problem if you take care.

I have used the l class ones in the n's and the n4000 ones in the l3000's before for testing.

physically there the same, apart from the part number sticker and in the fru list there seen as the part number thats on them not the one that it should be. if your not bothered about support with hp you'll be fine.

Also the memory is all the same aswell. works in the A,l and N classes.

again it will see it as the part number on the dimm as opposed to the correct used one for support.

Andy

[rick jones]

When mixing and matching DIMMs from HP servers which have ostensibly similar memory subsystems, keep in mind:


Supported, known to work -> warm fuzzies all around
Supported, not known to not work -> an HPite may be in trouble
Supported, known to not work -> an HPite is in trouble
Unsupported, known to work -> lucky today, unlucky tomorrow?
Unsupported, not known to not work -> there but for the grace of Turing
Unsupported, known to not work -> no, it was not deliberate ;-)

[Ralph Grothe]

Torsten, Andrew,

thanks again for your advice and for sharing your experience.

Rick,

I really like your {,un}supported matrix :-))
Sounds like a code of conduct for HPites.

[tkc · Accepted solution]

i can confirm the ram in n-class and l-class servers are of different part numbers though the dimm size is the same. hence, it's not supported by hp for putting n-class dimms into a l3000 server. try it with luck.

[Marcel Burggraeve]

Although most likely not supported by HP I can confirm you can swap around both memory and carriers from L-Class to N-Class and the other way around.
There's one physical difference between the two carriers, the one in the L-Class has a pin on the top side which you can just remove after which it will fit perfectly in a N-Class.

[Ralph Grothe]

Hello Guys,

thanks again for your help.

Meanwhile, to my own surprise, in our data center I discovered another decommissioned L-class which gave an ideal practicing target.
All in all it were no more than 3 screws to remove (which arrest the chassis in the rack)
and 6 screws to loosen and 2 lids to remove.
My spare memory carrier fitted perfectly in the slides and the socket and the snap levers.
Then I only had to discontinue transition of PDC to ISL and glimpse at IN => ME to confirm that my spare memory was fully recognized and accepted by the system.

Now I only need a scheduled downtime to execute the rehearsed memory extension on the demanding box as well.

[Andrew Young_2]

Hi Ralph.

Having just put 8Gb's of memory from my old N4000 and rp7400's into a L1500, which is a firmware restricted L3000, I can confirm that it does work without a problem.

In addition the N4000 memory carrier will work in a L1500/L3000. However the reverse is not true as there is addition metal work on the cheaper L3000 carrier to prevent it being use in place of the more expensive but otherwise identical N4000 part.

Regards

Andrew Y